He said that the blue sheep was the Pakistan’s longest and the world’s second longest animal.

He said the Italian hunter had secured hunting permit paying 8,000 US dollars to the Gilgit-Baltistan wildlife department.

Blue sheep is a rare species, found only in Nepal and Pakistan.

He said that the foreign hunter spent three days in KVO’s wildlife conservatory looking for the blue sheep.

Mr Baig said that hunter was accompanied by his local guide, Mahboob Ali, local community members and officials of GB wildlife department to ensure that the hunt was carried out according to the rules. “The hunter fired a single gunshot at the blue sheep from a distance of 275 meters as was allowed under the law.”

According to rules, only one shot at the animal is allowed, and the second attempt would render the permit invalid.

The KVO official said 80 per cent of the income from the sale of hunting permits went to the local community to be spent on development of wildlife in their respective areas. Twenty per cent of the amount would go to the government exchequer, he explained.

In the KVO wildlife reserve live 30 snow leopards and other wildlife species.

The official said that Gilgit-Baltistan wildlife management board had auctioned in December last year 70 hunting permits for trophy hunting programme for 2014-15, which included 12 permits for markhors, 50 for ibex and eight for blue sheep, respectively.

The hunting season begins in November and ends in April.

Ghulam Mohammad said the trophy hunting quota was created on the basis of annual surveys conducted by the wildlife experts.

He said that the wildlife department issued hunting permits for only the aged animals.